Children, especially infants, grow at a rapid pace. As a result, children are constantly outgrowing their clothing and parents struggle to provide their children with properly fitting clothing. This problem is especially pronounced in the area of footwear. Whereas ill-fitting clothing may only look out of place, shoes that do not fit properly can also cause aches and pains to the wearer. Further, since children's feet are in the growth phase, their delicate feet can be negatively affected by wearing shoes that are too tight. Thus, when caring for a child, there is a constant need to provide properly fitting footwear. This can be wasteful for families finding themselves making multiple footwear purchases following multiple growth spurts
Some attempts have been made to provide expandable shoes. U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,481, for example, discloses a shoe in which a two plate assembly is disposed between an inner and a disjointed outer sole, having overlapping front and back portions. One of the plates includes a spring tongue, and the other plate includes two apertures to receive the spring tongue, each aperture corresponding to a shoe size. To adjust the shoe size, a screw which extends through the heel and into the disjointed soles is removed. The shoe may then be pulled apart allowing the disjointed sole to separate until the spring tongue engages the next aperture. Thus the shoe size may be lengthened by one size, but apparently the size cannot be controlled finely or reduced. The shoe includes two crinkled leather portions, one on each side of the shoe, to facilitate expansion of the shoe. The apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 3,389,481, however, is a complex device with a multitude of moving parts composed of a variety of materials. These characteristics are disadvantageous since they increase manufacturing costs, enhance the probability of failure of the product and increase the consumer sales price.
In another example, international patent application WO 01/33986 also describes an expandable shoe. The expandable shoe includes an outer shell having a front and a rear outer assembly each attached to a flexible, expandable segment. An adjustable inner assembly is disposed within the outer shell and includes a control mechanism, accessible from the outer shell, which may be urged from a lock state into a state in which the inner assembly and outer shell may be adjusted. A visualization window provides a view port to the inner assembly. The apparatus of patent application WO 01/33986, however, is also an intricate device with multiple moving parts composed of different materials.
Consequently, a need exists to overcome the problems with the prior art as discussed above, and particularly for a simpler and more efficient expandable footwear product for children.